According to the Catholic News Agency, the papal document, for which a title has not yet been announced, will be released 25 March during a papal trip to Loreto in Italy, the location of the Shrine of the Holy House of Loreto where Pope Francis will present the document to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Loreto is a small town in north-eastern Italy which, since the end of the 13th century, has been host to a building. Tradition holds that this is the home where the Virgin Mary was born, raised and greeted by the Angel Gabriel.
Following recent changes to the rules governing synods, the publication of a post-synodal papal document is not required to make a synod’s conclusions authoritative, though such documents have traditionally followed synodal sessions.
The Catholic News Agency reports that according to the new norms, Francis could have chosen to consider the final document of the synod assembly as part of the Church’s ordinary magisterium if he gave it a particular level of papal approval.
Instead the Vatican has announced that Pop Francis will follow the Synod of Bishops on young people, held in October 2018, with an apostolic exhortation. The last post-synodal apostolic exhortation to be written was Amoris Laetitia. This followed synods on the family held in 2014 and 2015
The Pope’s day-trip on 25 March will include a stop at the Pope John Paul II youth centre in a town near Loreto and a visit to the Loreto Basilica where he will celebrate Mass inside the Holy House.
After Mass, the Pope will sign the post-synodal exhortation before greeting the local community of Capuchins and the sick and infirm. He will give a short speech and lead the Angelus before departing for Rome after lunch.